BiTMICRO E-Disk Fibre Channel Flash Drive Enables Solid State, High Performance VMETRO Digital Data Recorder - DDR - for AH-1Z Cobra Helicopter.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Eurosatory 2004

Booth B-27 (USA Pavilion)

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2004

VMETRO DDR for Helicopter Weapon Systems Test Applications

Relies on BiTMICRO(R) E-Disk(R) Fibre Channel Flash-Based

Solid State Disk (SSD) for Reliable Data Storage

VMETRO (OSE:VME), the premier provider of products for high-speed sensor I/O, data recording, and bus analysis, and BiTMICRO(R) Networks, a pioneer in intelligent flash ATA / IDE, SCSI, USB, VME, CompactPCI, Firewire, Ethernet, and Fibre Channel solid state storage solutions, jointly announced at Eurosatory 2004 being held at Paris, France, VMETRO's selection of E-Disk(R) Fibre Channel solid state disk as the storage solution of choice for its solid state Digital Data Recorder (DDR).

Based on a rugged version of the MIDAS Data Recorder (MDR), VMETRO's DDR is the basis of a new system developed to debug and qualify the Hawkeye Target Sight System (TSS) currently being tested by Lockheed Martin Missiles (NYSE: LMT) for the AH-1Z Cobra Helicopter of the US Marine Corps.

The TSS is a multisensor EO/IR fire control system (AN/AAQ-30) designed to provide target detection, recognition, and identification at extremely long ranges during day or night operations and in challenging environments. With E-Disk(R) Fibre Channel SSD as its mass storage device, DDR has the capability to sustain high-bandwidth data recording in hostile environments, enabling test personnel to correlate what the sensors are seeing with the indicators coming from the weapons system of the AH-1Z.

"The Fibre Channel interface enables direct integration of the E-Disk(R) with VMETRO's Data Recording Storage Area Network (DR-SAN). With a total of 48GB of storage, the E-Disk(R) flash drive provides adequate storage for entire test flights with no need for aircraft landing," says Ronnie Sanford, VMETRO's Manager of Marketing.

"With global security concerns in mind, the military avionics industry is actively engaged in the development of next-generation aircraft with better fighting capabilities," says Jake Pasion, Director of Sales of BiTMICRO(R) Networks. "VMETRO is renowned for its expertise in developing embedded solutions for data acquisition and recording. We're confident that our E-Disk(R) solutions will meet the performance requirements of its solid state DDR," Pasion adds.

BiTMICRO(R) Networks E-Disk(R) Fibre Channel products deliver a solid solution for data storage and protection while providing the powerful performance and speed for today's data-intensive applications. They feature patented FlashBus(TM) storage technology to speed performance, eliminate system bottlenecks, and offer durable storage. VMETRO utilized a 2 Gbps Fibre Channel E-Disk(R) SSD that boasts an I/O rate of up to 9,900 IOPS, duplex burst R/W rate of 400 MB/sec, sustained R/W rate of up to 70 MB/sec, operating temperature from 0(degree)C to +70(degree)C and 24 GB capacity in a 3.5-inch form factor.

BiTMICRO(R) E-Disk(R) solid state disk storage solutions are being showcased at Eurosatory 2004, booth B-27 (USA Pavilion). Eurosatory-International Exhibition for Land and Land-Air Defence is sponsored by COGES, presided over by the French Land Defense Manufacturers Association and held under the patronage of the French Ministry of Defense. It is being held at Paris, France from June 14 to 18, 2004.

For E-Disk(R) technology information, pricing and availability, call +1 510-74E-DISK / [phone], e-mail [e-mail] or visit http://www.bitmicro.com.

About VMETRO

VMETRO provides board- and system-level products for high-performance embedded real-time systems, with products based on open standards like VMEbus, PCI, RACEway, and Fibre Channel. Founded in 1986 in Oslo, Norway, and in the US since 1987, VMETRO is the world's largest manufacturer of bus analyzers for standard buses such as VMEbus and PCI. VMETRO also offers an extensive line of high-performance real-time data recorders, PMC I/O controllers and modules for data acquisition and real-time data networking. VMETRO is listed as a Forbes International 200 Best Small Company and is traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: VME). For more information, please visit www.vmetro.com.

About BiTMICRO Networks

BiTMICRO(R) Networks (http://www.bitmicro.com), a privately held California corporation, is the leading provider of rugged and high performance non-volatile solid state disk, flash disk drive, and network storage and management solutions. E-Disk(R) storage solutions are offered with SCSI, IDE / ATA, Fibre Channel, USB, FireWire, Compact PCI, VME, PMC and Ethernet interfaces in 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard disk drive footprints, single-wide PMC, 3U and 6U board, and 19-inch rackmount configurations scalable up to several terabytes of pure solid state storage.

E-Disk(R), BiTMICRO Networks(R) and BiTMICRO(R) are registered trademarks of BiTMICRO Networks, Inc. Other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

High-resolution photo images of BiTMICRO's product line are available at http://www.bitmicro.com/press_image_library.php